Summary
Shonen Jump is eliminating its policy of canceling new series quickly, allowing them more time to develop and potentially end on a satisfying note. The magazine relies heavily on a small group of successful series to drive sales, but as these series are coming to an end, Shonen Jump is frantically green-lighting and canceling new manga in the hopes of finding new manga. get the next hit. While frustrating cancellations still happen, recent manga cancellations in Shonen Jump have ended on a more satisfying note than in the past, implying that the magazine is becoming more considerate of manga cancellations. his canceled series.
In recent years, Jump Shonen has been known for ruthlessly canceling new series before they have a chance to shine, but recently the magazine appears to have taken steps away from this policy. This is a positive sign, as this trend – best encapsulated in fan terminology as “Under 19 Club”, meaning the series was canceled after 19 chapters or less – leaving fans unable to truly invest in the magazine’s newest series. While the future of the magazine’s newest manga may be brighter than before, there are still dark clouds on the horizon.
Shonen Jump relies heavily on having a small collection of extremely successful series to stimulate sales. The best example of this is the legendary “Big Three” series: Naruto, One Piece and Bleach, but even beyond these three giants, the magazine has also used manga such as Dragon Ball and Chainsaw Man to do this.
Currently, the three series that Shonen Jump is using to take on this role, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia, are all coming to an end, meaning Shonen Jump had to quickly find something new and iconic. This caused the magazine to frantically greenlight and then cancel the new manga, hoping that one of these new series would be popular enough to keep the company afloat.
The Shonen Jump manga has been adapted into a shorter length
Chapters need to be more concise and overload the reader with lore to survive
While understandable on a corporate level, 19 chapters is too little time to actually do anything meaningful. For example, by the 20th chapter of One Piece, the series has not even introduced Sanji – the central character in the cast. Given the manga’s slow pace at the beginning, it’s unlikely that One Piece can survive long enough to become an iconic series in Shonen Jump’s current landscape. This has encouraged creators to front-load information and action in their series, even if it’s not always relevant, which then hinders these series further. If a series had survived this initial period, it might have come at the cost of messing up its pacing for the rest of the series and thus ending early anyway.
However, this frontloading, while potentially harmful to the series’ chances of continued publication, does cause many series canceled by Shonen Jump to end on more satisfying notes than some of the manga canceled cancel their previous one. For example, the most recent canceled series in the magazine, Tenmaku Cinema, almost perfectly ended the story at chapter 20. Of course, there are still some plot threads left unresolved, But the main story and character arcs all end very nicely. There are many reasons why this could happen. The series could have been designed that way from the beginning, or Shonen Jump could have given the creators a warning that it would be canceled in advance.
Shonen Jump has become more concerned about its canceled manga
This latter option certainly seems to be the case for another soon-to-be-canceled series, Do Retry. The film is about a boy named Azure who wants to become a boxer in post-war Japan. It’s clear that the author wants to turn this series into a formulaic fighting manga, with Azure facing new opponents in each arc as he gradually grows strong enough to face his father. However, after Azure defeats her final opponent, the manga’s pace quickens, with Azure quickly finding her father and confronting him in a climactic battle. The series ends in the next chapter, but still tries its best to wrap up many of the storylines, implying that at least the author received early warning.
The manga was canceled just before Tenmaku Cinema, Fabricant 100, ending with 36 chapters. This is much more time than the standard 19 or less that other series would receive, which implies that Shonen Jump is likely more willing to give its manga more time to develop. This philosophy worked in Fabricant 100’s favor, allowing for an emotionally resonant ending that worked in no small part because fans got more time to spend with the characters.
Disappointing Shonen Jump cancellations have become less common
Magazines can gradually change for the better
However, despite these relatively positive endings, Shonen Jump’s tendency to cancel series after less than a year has squandered the potential of many notable manga series. Ayashimon, a newer series from the author of Hell’s Paradise about a supernatural gang war, was suddenly canceled with an extremely open ending. Of course, this may not be entirely Shonen Jump’s fault, as there are rumors that the series’ focus on gangs has come too close to glorifying the Yakuza for the comfort of some Japanese fans. Copy.
More recently, however, the promising Ginka & Glüna was canceled before it really had a chance to develop its world and characters. This is a real shame, as the series had the potential to build into a One Piece-style story about discovery and finding family. It still ended well, but if Shonen Jump had given it a chance it could have gone further, which is probably one of the most disappointing cancellations this year.
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Shonen Jump has improved on a lot of reader complaints, and its flagship series have had extremely enjoyable installments lately.
That such unsatisfactory cancellations are becoming the exception rather than the rule is a surprisingly encouraging sign. Shonen Jump has introduced quite a few new games recently, but of course there’s no guarantee that they won’t also participate Under 19 club like so many manga before it. However, if recent cancellations are no longer available, even if these cancellations Jump Shonen manga was cut short, they probably won’t be as disappointing as the previous magazines.